State halted probe into Allied Veterans because of positive news articles

Attorney Kelly Mathis, center, and his attorney, Mitch Stone, talk with a bailiff on March 14, 2013 in Sanford, Fla., after Mathis's bail was set at $1 million for his role in the Allied Veterans of America investigation.

TALLAHASSEE - Newspaper articles sent by attorney Kelly Mathis, dubbed the “mastermind” of a $300 million money-laundering scheme, helped to halt a 2007 investigation into Allied Veterans of the World, a Mathis client now at the heart of a federal investigation.

Then-Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson had been investigating a complaint that said the nonprofit raised money from gaming centers to help veterans groups and other charities, but “was not using the funds received via donations for the purpose of the charity.”

Bronson’s probe came to an end, however, after Mathis sent newspaper articles, including one showing Allied Veterans gave $30,000 to a VA hospital.

“Based on this information it appeared the organization was using the funds in accordance with the solicitation,” according to state records summarizing the investigation.

Mathis and 56 others were arrested last week; several more arrests were made this week. Prosecutors said just 2 percent of the $300 million raised went to charities.

Bronson said it was hard to press forward with the investigation because there is no requirement under state law that an organization give a specific amount to charity.

“They showed they were giving money to charity,” he said this week. “Do you and I and most people think it should have been more? Probably, but the law is the law.”

He did not know that only 2 percent was being given away.

Miriam Wilkinson, the head of Bronson’s consumer services division, took a job with Mathis’ firm after leaving the agency. She did not return requests seeking comment, but Bronson said he had no concern about her joining a firm that represents Allied Veterans.

“I just thought, when people are in … government and know all the rules and regulations, that’s who companies want to hire,” Bronson said.

Wilkinson met with Mathis in 2010 when the gaming center industry was trying to change state law to clarify it was legal gambling, according to federal court documents.

In addition, she testified in a Marion County case involving Jeaneen Crisante, a Mathis client who was charged with running an illegal gambling house.

In her testimony, Wilkinson explained the application process and said she thought Crisante, who was acquitted, ran a center legal under Florida’s sweepstakes laws.

Wilkinson resigned from the department in November 2010. Two months later, as a member of Mathis’ firm, she testified in front of the Seminole County Commission that gaming centers are “lawful.” Wilkinson has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Bronson said that he and Wilkinson both made a failed push to give law enforcement the right to search the machines used by the gaming centers.

“She wanted the tougher language,” he said. “For whatever reason, it just could not get through the Legislature.”

It was not the first time Allied Veterans had been on the radar of Bronson’s department.

A 2007 complaint filed by Pasco County resident Fred Hoppenbauer said the group was “ripping [off] people who are playing their games.”

The department said it “did not have jurisdiction over the subject area,” according to a letter sent to Hoppenbauer. It was referred to the office of Attorney General Bill McCollum.

The only record of the investigation in current Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office is a letter from McCollum acknowledging he received Hoppenbauer’s complaint. The letter included information on the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act, and said the complaint was turned over to the Federal Trade Commission, which did not return calls seeking comment.

“If you would like to keep current with news on Attorney General McCollum’s efforts to fight fraud please visit our website,” the letter concludes.

Those state-level investigations came the same year the federal investigators began their probe of Allied Veterans, whose for-profit affiliates and top officials gave at least $1.3 million in campaign contributions.

The investigation lasted five years and prompted Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll to resign because she had done work for Allied Veterans. She has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Bronson said he was never approached by federal investigators, and, despite rumors, has never been involved with the gaming center industry.

“I am not, and have never, been involved with them professionally,” he said.

Current Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who worked with investigators, is involved in a lawsuit with Allied Veterans over its request for additional documents from the group.

In October 2011, four years after the federal investigation began, the department requested financial information from Allied Veterans after “public statements they made on the charitable contributions they were giving did not match the documents they had provided us,” according to Erin Gillespie, a department spokeswoman.

It was the first time the group claimed not to be a charity under state law, she said.

The group argued in court documents that it is not a charity because its money comes from the gaming centers, not by actively soliciting contributions.

“The legislature’s intent is intended that ‘charitable organizations’ be those that seek charitable donations, not those that occasionally engage in voluntary charitable acts for their own financial resources,” read the lawsuit.

It was signed by Mathis, who still employs Wilkinson, according to the firm’s website.

The request came months after investigators first reached out to Putnam’s office as part of the Allied Veterans probe.

As a result of the request, Allied Veterans sued the state to avoid handing over additional documents.

Being a charity would “make all private financial records and tax returns … available as public records,” the group’s lawsuit read.

Putnam’s office filed a counter-suit continuing the push for more documents.

“Basically, they were trying to skirt the law,” Gillespie said. “They registered with us as a charity to enable them to solicit contributions but when we asked for more information … they sued us and claimed to not be a charity.”

@sl4thpi So we do agree on a few things. It does boggle the mind that reading a newspaper article is the extent of an investigation by a watchdog agency. I can see giving the company the benefit of doubt... but COME ON!!! Bronson did everything but roll over and play dead.

sl4 - ain't it a great place. I'm thinking of starting a prostitution ring and give 20% of the earnings to help kids with autism. A couple of newspaper clippings, maybe some free time for a few select Legislators and I'm free and clear.

Round them all up and put them in jail......newspaper articles stop an investigation, is that all it took......they need to look at Charles Bronson also.....see if his hands were in the pot......does he have a Cadillac Escalade.......peace